A phrase that has dawned on everyone in our group this past week. We're going to go nuts... We have a few days left of our current modules (I am now on Intro to Marine Life) and then we are going to Isabela for a week and return with a 5 day holiday and then we will be touring a few of the islands. After that, we only have a couple weeks left! I'm so freaked out!
In other news, my dreds started molding, so I cut probably a foot of hair off. It was a liberating feeling. You couldn't even tell that I had dreads in the first place and they are itchy and stinky. It was something that I've always wanted to do, and having short hair was something I've always wanted to try and it's soo great having short hair in a hot place :)
For our marine class, we have been going snorkeling in a bunch of cool areas. Our professor was the director of research at the Charles Darwin Research Center for years before he started regularly teaching so we have got the in as far as going to prohibited parts of the islands goes. He also has terrible communication skills and he is deaf, which makes for interesting field trips, as he constantly ignores our questions - "Gunter, what are we doing. Where are we going. Earth to Gunter." Dos dias pasado, we went to a place that hasn't even been officially named yet, barely any traffic going through this place. I felt like an explorer. We were surveying the area and then writing proposals on whether or not the center should allow the area to be a tourist spot. So we hiked around, went snorkeling, took some notes... I vote no for tourism. For a few reasons, but most importantly that it's a nesting area for endangered tortugas marinas.
Here are a few creeper shots from Scott:
<-- picked the worst shoes to go hiking in! here's brett and i getting back on the boat - literally had no where to dock to so we all jumped off brittle ah-ah lava and onto the boat.
This next picture is the ohwee ohwee lava flow - i have no idea if that's even how you pronounce it. basically, the ah ah lava is brittle and sharp, and named after the ah ah lava in Hawaii (the indigineous Hawaiians would walk over the rock barefoot and go "ah! ah! ah!"
The other kind of lava is smoother and you can see the flows better. This one had less gas bubbles trapped inside as it was cooling down. Millions of years ago.
Here's where we first landed, up behind me is the turtle nesting area and we snorkeled over by the huge rock on the left. It was a beautiful place and it's amazing to think that no one ever goes there. The snorkeling was cool because there were so many schools of fish and they were a lot bigger than I've ever seen and a lot of them were grazing. This marine class has really opened up a new world... A lot of people think half the experience of the Galapagos is being underwater. Snorkeling is so relaxing - the water is pretty warm and you just float there with your snorkel and chill in Galapaguenan goodness. There is only one significant coral reef I think, but there is brightly colored algae that covers the rocks that is very beautiful. My new favorite spot is a 20 minute walk down the street from the uni which is a beautiful snorkeling area with huge rocks and caves and crazy fish. I really want to see a sea horse and a frog fish before I leave. Frog fish look like dead tufts of seaweed floating above the ocean floor but all the little tufts are actually their fins. I've been watching Blue Planet - just like Planet Earth (also narrated by d. attenborough <3) align="left">
I wrote a bunch more but apparently it got deleted - just me blah blahing about snorkeling and sea life. Oh well. Chau guys ! :)
<-- picked the worst shoes to go hiking in! here's brett and i getting back on the boat - literally had no where to dock to so we all jumped off brittle ah-ah lava and onto the boat.
Here's where we first landed, up behind me is the turtle nesting area and we snorkeled over by the huge rock on the left. It was a beautiful place and it's amazing to think that no one ever goes there. The snorkeling was cool because there were so many schools of fish and they were a lot bigger than I've ever seen and a lot of them were grazing. This marine class has really opened up a new world... A lot of people think half the experience of the Galapagos is being underwater. Snorkeling is so relaxing - the water is pretty warm and you just float there with your snorkel and chill in Galapaguenan goodness. There is only one significant coral reef I think, but there is brightly colored algae that covers the rocks that is very beautiful. My new favorite spot is a 20 minute walk down the street from the uni which is a beautiful snorkeling area with huge rocks and caves and crazy fish. I really want to see a sea horse and a frog fish before I leave. Frog fish look like dead tufts of seaweed floating above the ocean floor but all the little tufts are actually their fins. I've been watching Blue Planet - just like Planet Earth (also narrated by d. attenborough <3) align="left"> 
you chopped off a foot of hair?!?@£?
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